The Southern Cross Next submarine cable has landed in Coogee Beach in New South Wales, Australia, and is due to be lit up by the middle of 2022.
The $350 million, 15,857km cable will provide 72Tbps of carrier-neutral bandwidth between the US, New Zealand, and Australia. Separate branches link the island nations of Fiji, Tokelau, and Kiribati.
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The cable, which spans from Los Angeles and Sydney, is expected to be fully spliced in early January, and be ready for service in Q2, 2022.
“Australia and New Zealand will benefit from this new direct and low latency link with the technology innovation hub of the world in California," Southern Cross CEO Laurie Miller said.
"The new system will also complement our existing lowest latency links between Sydney and Auckland, and Auckland to Los Angeles enhancing our eco-system connectivity with our closest neighbours across the Tasman and the Pacific. For Fiji, Tokelau and Kiribati in particular, the SX NEXT cable will provide the highest capacity connectivity they’ve experienced to date," he added.
The cable was built by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) and is among the largest single submarine cable infrastructure projects in the world.
